Public liability insurance protects your business against the cost of settling or defending a claim for bodily injury or property damage from a client or member of the public. It’s designed to cover you for all the slips, trips and falls that sometimes simply can’t be avoided in the workplace or in a professional capacity.

What many people don’t realise is that, as a business owner they can be liable for all sorts of accidents both on their business premises and away from them. For example, if you were to damage a client’s property in their office a claim could be brought against you. Likewise, if a member of the public or a client slipped on a wet floor at your business premises and injured themself, you could be held responsible

Public liability insurance explained

Public liability insurance is designed to protect you against claims made by the public that they have suffered an injury or loss as a result of your business.

Even if you don’t have visitors to your office or home, you could still suffer a public liability claim, for example if you accidentally damage a client’s property in their office. In this scenario, public liability insurance would pay out the cost of compensation to be paid to the individual, as well as the legal fees and expenses involved.

Anyone working for you could also trigger a public liability claim against your business if their actions at work injure a client or member of the public.

Do I need any other kinds of business insurance?

To help protect your business, ACPG can provide small businesses with public liability insurance as a standalone policy or it can be purchased together with our range of business insurance products including ACPG Employers’ Liability Insurance.

How much does ACPG public liability insurance cover me for?

How much you’re covered for in terms of compensation pay-out will depend on the level of cover you choose, and you’ll be covered for up to RM100,000 for any legal feels spent in defending a claim.

If you have employees, employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement and can be bought as a package with our public liability insurance.

Do I need public liability insurance?

If your business premises are visited by clients, or if your employees regularly work off-site, it may be worth considering public liability cover.

If you work from home, you may assume you don’t need a policy, but this isn’t necessarily the case.

Say, for example, you decide to take a marketing stand at your industry’s big trade show to get some publicity for your firm.

But during the show a bit falls off and injures a passer-by; an embarrassing episode could turn into a costly one if that person decides to sue.

Also, if you visit clients’ premises or have access to their equipment, then it’s worth considering buying public liability cover, because if you inadvertently damage their property you may have to pay the cost of repairing or replacing it.

It could be something as simple as knocking your cappuccino over your client’s new MacBook or one of your employees tripping over in a client’s server room. He brings a stack of expensive computer equipment down as he falls, which might seem like a classic ‘You’ve Been Framed’ moment at the time, but the RM1250 you’d earn from the trip (pardon the pun) wouldn’t begin to cover the cost of a new server, when your client sends you the bill.

What does public liability insurance cover?

A public liability policy covers you and your employees against property damage when working in a client’s home, office or business property.

Under the Injury Cost Recovery Scheme, the NHS is now allowed to reclaim the cost of transporting and treating a patient, in cases where personal injury compensation is paid out. So if your business activities injure a third party, public liability insurance will protect you from the cost of a possible NHS claim.

How much does public liability insurance cost?

How much you pay for cover depends on the size and type of your business, and the level of risk it undertakes. Discuss this with your insurer before you buy your policy in order to assess what level of cover provided is right for your business .

You may find clients expect you to have a minimum level of cover, according to your area or industry. This is often the case for businesses working with the public sector where the minimum requirement is usually between RM 5-10 million.

Is public liability insurance a legal requirement?

Choosing not to purchase public liability insurance will not land you with a jail sentence or a hefty fine.

But having the right insurance can make your business look more professional and offer you peace of mind.

You don’t want to get into a spat with one of your best clients over the consequences of an accident or damage to one of their properties.

Getting a public liability policy means you can let your insurer deal with any problems, while you get on with running your business.

One of the reasons we at ACPG Management Sdn Bhd, are one of the top Property and Casualty Insurance Agency in the Kuala Lumpur Malaysia market, is due to the quality and variety of insurance solution and consultancy services we provide. Be it automotive insurance, fire insurance, all others type classes of life and general insurance, consequential loss insurance, insurance of precious possessions or what have you, you can rest assured that we provide nothing less than what are stated below, which makes us an insurance agency that is truly “Almost with No Comparison”, and we do not make such claims lightly.

By its very nature, a claim is made at a difficult and stressful time. You may need to make a claim because you have been burgled, there has been a fire or flood or worse and your business may be forced to stop operating. In such a situation, you need a settlement and fast.

Most insurance companies are well aware of this and if you are making a claim directly to an insurance company or through an unqualified agent and without any professional help, you may find the small print in your policy is not what you expected or the settlement amount is not enough.

When you have to make a claim, the insurance company will send out a loss adjustor to assess the damage. It is important to understand that the loss adjustor works for the Insurance company and not you so they will put the interests of the insurance company first.

If you are one of our clients, we will represent your interests when the loss adjustor visits the scene and in any discussions or negotiations to ensure you get the best possible settlement.

If you would like to meet for an informal consultation about your insurance needs and how we can place your coverage at exceptional rates, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Risk Management

Risk is when there’s an uncertainty about whether an event will or will not occur. Thus, risk management is the process of identifying exposures to risk, choosing the best method for handling each exposure and implementing it.

Insurance refers to a contract that reduces risk of loss and requires one party to pay a specified sum to another if a previously identified event occurs. Thus, insurance planning is the process of handling and safeguarding against future risk of loss and ensuring sufficient compensation is provided.

Risk Management Technique

When it comes to risk management, there are 4 basic methods :

Risk Avoidance

To avoid engaging in an activity or owning property that might lead to an exposure of risk.